What’s in a Name? The Story of DaddyElk

By Last Updated: October 14, 2020Views: 2740

Since I started DaddyElk I’ve been asked several times just what the heck the name means. Well, I wish there was some deep, symbolic meaning behind it but it comes from a very simple source. Just a simple story.

It goes like this:

My family and I live in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains just outside of Denver Colorado. We’re lucky. We live in an area that is still full of open spaces, and blue skies, where the smell of wild roses and wild sage and pine is all around you.

On any given day you can see a variety of animals; mule deer and foxes wander the fields, owls & hawks hover over head. If you are lucky – or maybe no so luck you could spot a bear or a mountain lion. And also there are elk.

At certain times of the year the elk will gather in our area and some will rest in the shade of an aspen grove behind our house. Often, before we started our day my daughter would sit and watch them.

One such morning when she was very young, just learning to talk, she turned to me and said, “The ones that have the antlers are the daddies, the ones that don’t are the mommies.” I told her that was an astute observation and that she was the most brilliant child in the world.

She decided then to count them, “One daddy, two daddies, three daddies, four daddies,” she said and then turning to me she pointed, “Five daddies,” she said, “You’re my daddy elk.” She hugged me then around the neck and I held her in my arm and I never wanted to let go.

So that’s the story of the name. Just a small moment on a quiet day but it meant the world to me.


Originally posted September 15, 2011
Revised slightly September 1, 2019

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